Military Sea Hawkers

The military chapter of the official booster club of the Seattle Seahawks

Many Seahawks veterans gone after a post-lockout flurry of transactions

(Note: I’ve tried to write an article about the Seahawks offseason moves at least five times in the last couple weeks. Tonight, I’m not wasting any time, because if I sit on this until tomorrow morning then there will end up being changes that make everything I write completely out of date.)

Remember the 2005 Seahawks team that went to the Super Bowl? Well, probably about 80-90% of the team was still in high school at the time. The only two players left from that team are Marcus Trufant and Leroy Hill. That’s right, Matt Hasselbeck and Lofa Tatupu, two of the most recognizable Seahawks, or at least the two most-owned jersey numbers, have moved on. Tatupu is still shopping for a team, and Hasselbeck has joined the Tennessee Titans to help mentor former Huskies quarterback Jake Locker.

Now up for the Seahawks behind center is former Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, and along with him comes 24-year-old receiver Sidney Rice. Jackson never quite got the shot he deserved after Brett Favre came into Minnesota, but his former offensive coordinator (who is also with the Hawks now) thinks he can get the job done in Seattle.

Offensive lineman Robert Gallery and tight end Zach Miller were brought in from the Raiders, thanks to the help of new offensive line coach and assistant head coach Tom Cable, the former head coach in Oakland.

The defensive side of the ball is relying more on youth than they are big name free agents. Kam Chancellor is slated to take over for veteran Lawyer Milloy. Brandon Mebane was re-signed shortly after the lockout as well as David Hawthorne, who will take over the middle linebacker spot vacated by Tatupu.Cornerback Kelly Jennings also re-signed with the team, but is expected to lose his starting job to Walter Thurmond. However Brandon Browner, a Canadian Football League standout, has been practicing with the first-team defense while Thurmond nurses an injury. Seattle picked up quite a few late round draft picks as well as undrafted free agents on the defensive side of the ball as well.

It’s going to take some getting used to not seeing Hasselbeck and Tatupu on the field for the Hawks, but it looks like Coach Carroll has a plan and it will be fun watching to see how it all plays out. When you look at some of the teams that are consistently near the top, they are usually the teams that get rid of a player early rather than keep a guy too long. It’s also going to take some used to saying and hearing CenturyLink Field instead of Qwest. A lot of people are seriously upset by the change, but I’m not one to take the corporate renaming of a stadium too personally.